Downtown Belleville restaurant says goodbye after 27 years
After serving customers in downtown Belleville for more than 25 years, Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant has closed its doors.
A notice on the restaurant’s front window stated it closed effective Monday, April 4.
Owner Truc Truong said last week the reason for the closure is that they have too much business and not enough employees. They just couldn’t keep up, he added.
Truong has owned and operated the restaurant since he bought the business from its previous owners in February 1995. He reopened the restaurant a few weeks later.
The BND told Truang’s inspiring story in a 2004 article, recounting how he came to the U.S. from Vietnam and eventually became a U.S. citizen and opened two businesses. (The article appears as an embed at the end of this story.)
Golden Dragon was first opened in November 1988 by Son Dien To and Nam Van Nguyen. The restaurant’s original location was at 203 W. Main St. in Belleville.
In August 2002, the business was closed after the west wall of the building started to separate from the rest of the structure, the BND reported at the time. That wall faced the playground area of Governor French Academy.
Governor French eventually purchased the building in November 2002. The building was demolished the following July, allowing the school to expand the playground area.
In December 2002, Truong had announced that he would move Golden Dragon to a new location at 128 W. Main St., where he continued to run a successful business.
During the pandemic, Golden Dragon stayed open, providing service for delivery and carryout orders only.
When the restaurant was able to fully reopen, Truong said they could no longer serve customers as well as they wanted.
They had many repeat customers over the years, said Truong. He is thankful for the customers, adding that they were very nice. He will miss them and the business.
Truong said that “maybe one day, if we have employees,” they could try again. “But I don’t know.”
This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
